Dental floss holder



y 1945- A. L. PETERSON 2,375,686

.7 I V DENTAL FLOSS HOLDER Filed July 4, 1944 with the bore surface of the handle.

Patented May 8, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT i OFFICE 2,375,686 DENTAL FLOSS. HOLDER Arthur L. Peterson, Long Beach, Calif. Application July 4, 1344, Serial No. 543,467 (o1. 1a2-92 4 Claims. This invention is a dental floss applicator and skein holder.

It is an object of the invention to provide a simple, substantial, low cost, practical, sanitary and efficient combined floss applicator and skein holder.

An additional object is to provide a skein holder and floss thread tightener.

A further object of the invention is to provide a holder of this class having means to bodily receive and firmly retain a conventional skein container, and further to provide aholder having combined 'easily threaded mean to present the thread in a tensioned stretch for ready insertion between teeth in a mouth, and including an effective device for placing the desired tension on the thread.

The invention consists in certain advancements in this art as set forth in the ensuing disclosure and having, with the above, additional objects and advantages as hereafter developed, and whose construction, combinations, and details of means, and the manner of operation will be made manifest in the following description of the herewith illustrative embodiment; it being understood that modifications, variations and adaptations may be resorted to within the scope,

spirit and principle of the invention as it is more particularly claimed in the addendum.

Figure 1 is a perspective of the holder as in use on teeth. Figure 2 is a side elevation of the device with the parts in position for assembly as a combination.

Figure 3 is a tip end view of one yoke arm of the holder.

Figures 4 and 5 show successive steps in threading and tensioning the thread of floss.

The holder may be made of any desired and suitable material and is shown as having a main, tubular, shell-like handle 2 fully open at each end and cut out at one side to provide a window 3 for exposure of a transparent, conventional bottle 4 for an inserted skein of floss F. It can here be stated that after a suitable amount of the thread (of floss) has been drawn out of the bottle the floss is securely bound onto the end of the bottle by its screw cap 5. The bottle is now pushed into the near open end of the handle 2 and is frictionally held by contact of the cap The Window 3 thus provides for observation of the skein from time to time.

The extended thread isnow laid in a groove 6 provided therefor in and along the outer face of a stiff arm 1 lying in a plane along the axis of the handle and which arm is disposed laterally of and preferably integrally joined with the handle; theouter grooved face of this arm being away from the floss bottle end of the handle. The thread is now drawn into a cross-slot '8 in ,the tip of the arm 1 and over to a like slotted tip of an opposite arm 9 whose outer face has a groove l0 leading to the opposite end of the handle from the bottle containing end. Thepair of arms 1. and 9 merge in together at the basal handle in yoke form with ample spread of their tips to provide a considerable length of floss between the tips forefiective reciprocation between teeth to be cleaned. The convergence of the arms at the basal handle affords a narrow disposition of the arms to avoid interference with the: ends of the mouth whose teeth are being cleaned.

The end of the thread now coming from the base of the arm N, Fig. 2 of a tensioning knob l2, and as shown in Fig. 4 a full bight B is thrown around a one half end part I3 of the knob as formed by a diametrical end slot [4 reaching back to and joining with the groove II. This results in a snug hitch of the end of the thread in the knob which is now pushed endwise into the near end of the handle bore as in Fig. 5 until stopped by the interposed bottle. The knob is now rotated in the handle to a degree to bring the thread in the yoke tips to the desired tension; the far end of the thread being safely clinched by the bottle cap. After use of the stretched thread the knob is loosened from the handle and the thread is untied and pulled away to feed new thread to the yoke stretch portion; the cap 5 being loosened to free the skein thread for fresh supply. Loose or waste ends of the thread are easily cut ofi by insertion into a simple cutter spur [5 on the cap 5. I

What is claimed is:

1. The combination consistingof 'a floss skein containing bottle, means to clinch an extended end portion of the floss at the mouth of the bottle, a hollow handle in which the bottle is telescoped with said means outermost, mean on one side of the handle for supporting a stretch of the said floss portion leading from said clinching means,

and means on the opposite end of the handle for receiving the end of the floss and operative to put it in tension on said supporting means.

2. The combination consisting of a hollow handle of tubular form and open at each end,means handle including yoke arms, a skein container telescoped in one end of the handle and. including a device to clinch an ex- 9 is laid in an annular groove tended thread of the skein, and means fitting means for clinching an extended portion of the in the opposite end of the handle for tieing the skein, yoke arms fixed on and at a right angle to end of the thread after it has been laid on the one side of the handle in a common plane along yoke arms and operative to tension the applied the axis of the handle and having their out edges thread. 5 grooved, and means on the opposite end of the 3. The combination of claim 2, said tension handle on which the end of the said skein pormeans being rotatively mounted in the handle tion is adapted to be tied and which means is to effect the tensioning of the'thread. rotatively operative to put tension in the thread 4. A dental floss applicator and skein holder portion laid in the arm grooves and from arm to including a tubular handle, a thread skein con- 10 arm. tainer insertible into one end of the handle and ARTHUR L. PETERSON. 

